Marty Supreme review: Timothée Chalamet is racing towards his Oscar
The buzz surrounding Josh Safdie’s latest film, *Marty Supreme*, is palpable following its secret screening at the New York Film Festival, and it’s easy to see why. Starring Timothée Chalamet in a transformative role, the film showcases the actor’s commitment to his craft as he steps into the shoes of Marty Mauser, a punk table tennis player with grand ambitions. At just 29, Chalamet has already garnered two Academy Award nominations, and with *Marty Supreme*, he aims to solidify his place in the Oscar conversation again. This time, however, he adopts a grittier persona, complete with prosthetic blemishes that strip away his usual heartthrob image, allowing him to embody a more complex, flawed character that resonates with audiences.
*Marty Supreme* is described as a chaotic love letter to New York City, filled with scoundrels and their misdeeds. The film draws comparisons to the Safdie brothers’ previous work, *Uncut Gems*, but with a focus on the eccentricities of New York’s underbelly. Chalamet’s Marty is a self-proclaimed legend, willing to resort to desperate measures—including holding a gun on a co-worker—to fund his journey to a ping-pong championship overseas. His journey is not just a pursuit of glory but a wild ride through the city’s vibrant and often gritty landscape, filled with colorful characters played by a stellar ensemble cast, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler, The Creator. The film’s screenplay, co-written by Safdie and Ronald Bronstein, is noted for its sharp wit and exuberant energy, while the anachronistic score by Daniel Lopatin adds a modern twist to the 1950s setting, enhancing the film’s frenetic pace.
As audiences prepare for its theatrical release on December 25, *Marty Supreme* promises to be an exhilarating experience, blending humor, tension, and a celebration of New York’s unique spirit. With its zinging dialogue and a dynamic cast that brings the city to life, the film is poised to leave a lasting impact, ensuring that it will be remembered long after the awards season concludes. Chalamet’s performance, in particular, is being hailed as a standout, showcasing his range and ability to captivate audiences in a role that balances charm with chaos, making *Marty Supreme* a must-see for film lovers this holiday season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMET42iflhA
Out of its secret screening at New York Film Festival, Josh Safdie’s
Marty Supreme
immediately began gaining award season buzz. And why not?
Is there an actor alive pushing harder for an Oscar than Timothée Chalamet? At 29 years old, the New York thespian has been twice nominated for Best Actor, first for the swooning queer drama
Call Me By Your Name
and then again for his role in the critically heralded Bob Dylan biopic
A Complete Unknown
.
And while campaigning for that latter performance, he collected a slew of awards and committed the arguably cringe faux pas of admitting he wanted the Oscar.
How dare someone admit their ambition?!
With
Marty Supreme,
Chalamet tries a new tack by roughing up his pretty boy face with prosthetic pockmarks and pimples. Look to Nicole Kidman in
The Hours
or Brendan Fraser with
The Whale
or Heath Ledger with
The Joker
— prominent physical transformations can pay off big. They often break the spell of the godly movie star to allow an actor to play someone less glamorous, less idealized, and even downright despicable. In
Marty Supreme,
Chalamet’s good looks would make it too easy to fall for the prattle of his eponymous anti-hero. But a fleet of blemishes and a squirmy mustache manages to transform this world-famous native New Yorker into a true New York character. And thank God.
Long after the Oscars have been handed out and the fanfare has died down,
Marty Supreme
will be remembered as one of the supreme New York movies. Exploding with chaos, character, and kinetic energy,
Marty Supreme
is a movie about the city’s scoundrels, their sins, and why we love them anyway.
Marty Supreme
is
Uncut Gems’
pesky sibling picture.
Credit: A24
After the massive success of Josh and Benny Safdie’s
Uncut Gems
, the brothers parted ways to explore independent ventures, both of which involved sports movies. Benny teamed up with Dwayne Johnson for
The Smashing Machine
, an earnest but underwhelming drama about MMA fighter Mark Kerr. Josh found inspiration in the story of table tennis champion Marty Reisman, reimagining him as a Scorsese-like punk named Marty Mauser.
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Played by Chalamet, Marty is a legend in his own mind, guaranteed to bring the art of ping-pong to the masses. He just needs to pay his way to the championship overseas first. And he will do anything to get the scratch for that plane ticket. He’ll casually — but not coolly — pull a gun on a co-worker at a claustrophobic shoe store. He’ll seduce money out of the has-been movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow) who crosses his path, or pitch his childhood friend Rachel (Odessa A’zion) into a ransom scheme involving the bellowing dog of a glowering gangster (noted NYC filmmaker Abel Ferrara). Marty’s big dreams demand big risks, and he doesn’t care who’s taking them.
Timothée Chalamet is f***ing spectacular in
Marty Supreme
.
Credit: A24
Far from the cool gangsters of
Goodfellas
or even the intimidating Travis Bickle of
Taxi Driver
, wiry and sharp-tongued Marty has more of an
After Hours
energy. He’s the kind of New York eccentric who is equal parts mesmerizing and irritating, practically levitating with energy, moxie, and utter bullshit.
It’s easy to see the connective tissue between Adam Sandler’s Howard Ratner and Chalamet’s Marty. Both are cut from the same cloth of survival with panache and plenty of anxiety. Far from a clean-cut sportsman, Marty is perpetually ruffled, always on the run, and always running his mouth. And that means that Chalamet’s performance is less a marathon and more a dance-a-thon. There’s a constant demand for him to play the facade of Marty’s confidence, while dripping in the creeping tension that time for becoming the world champ is running out.
This desperation grows so intense you can practically smell the sweat collecting on that greasy little mustache. Yet, when Chalamet flashes a smile and lays into his lovers or haters with that practice patter, it’s hard to resist him. If Marty were a flawless pretty boy, it’d maybe be too hard to pull off, but the masterful make-up and styling by Safdie’s team rough up this world-famous Chanel brand ambassador just right. Chalamet becomes an everyman with an outsized ego that could shade the Chrysler Building. It’s an illicit thrill to watch Marty connive, insult, seduce, and steal, an all-American scoundrel at the top of his game on the table and off. Though when playing ping-pong, there’s an exuberance in Chalamet that is contagious. Believe it or not, you’ll get sucked into these adrenaline-fueled games of table tennis.
Marty Supreme
has a sublime ensemble cast.
Credit: A24
Chalamet will lead the Oscar conversation around Safdie’s latest, but there’s plenty of praise to go around. Safdie and co-writer Ronald Bronstein’s screenplay — despite some heavy-handed sentimentality at its bookends — is ruthlessly witty and exhilaratingly racy. The score by Warp Records artist Daniel Lopatin (who also provided the sweaty soundtrack for the Safdies’ nerve-wringing
Good Time
) is smartly anachronistic. While the movie is set in the 1950s, the score is loaded with synth and percussion that feels more attuned to ’80s sports movies like
Rocky
or
The Karate Kid
. Along with adding a pulse-pounding energy to
Marty Supreme
, this score also suggests that its wild anti-hero is perhaps a man before his time.
Bolstering Chalamet’s bold moves are an ensemble that is sensational, breathing life into the broader world of
Marty Supreme
‘s New York. Paltrow swans about with the untouchable grace of Manhattan’s posh elite. A’Zion sizzles with blue-collar sex appeal and righteous wrath. With a winsome energy, Tyler Okonma (aka Tyler, The Creator) plays the perfect foil to Marty, as a friend and fellow ping-pong player, while Géza Röhrig offers jolting calm with a sensational monologue. Abel Ferrara, whose appearance drew cheers from the NYFF audience, brings scorching menace as a local tough guy. And the list goes on with Fran Drescher, Penn Jillette, Sandra Bernhard, and Isaac Mizrahi popping up to expand the richness of Marty’s realm.
This zinging dialogue, racing score, and electric cast collide to create cinema that celebrates New York, while recognizing its warts with a bleeding grin. All of this makes
Marty Supreme
an unusual crowdpleaser. Full of wild humor and shocking turns, it has its audience in a chokehold of tension and surprise, rarely letting up for us to breathe. And yet, what a thrill to be breathless.
Marty Supreme
was reviewed out of the 2025 New York Film Festival.
It opens on Dec. 25.
